Future of city's greenhouse in question as parks place for new growhouse

By Sydney.Smith@hollandsentinel.com 616-546-4219

Sunday

Dec 3, 2017 at 7:12 AM

In 1911, the city spent $190.60 for a greenhouse frame, $97.20 on glass and $7 for wiring on Holland’s greenhouse, which has been used to grow plants and flowers for years.

“It was built to grow flowers for the city park system, and that’s mainly how it’s used today,” said Steve Zwiep, parks supervisor.

The future of the greenhouse, which still stands today, is now being discussed, as the city is faced with potentially going through the process of de-listing the greenhouse property, located at Central Avenue and 20th Street, as a historical landmark in order to sell it to Evergreen Commons as part of a deal made between the city and Evergreen in 2015.

However, the de-listing process, which is required by state law, is a long one and based on the historical significance of the greenhouse, doesn’t look like it would qualify to be delisted, according to the city’s historical preservation planner Grace Smith.

The deal

A memorandum of understanding was signed in August 2015 between the city and Heart of Holland, with the focus of installing snowmelt on Central Avenue.

In the agreement, $500,000 was provided to the city for the snowmelt and the greenhouse property would be transferred to Evergreen Commons at its appraised amount of $40,000. The greenhouse is located at Central Avenue and 20th Street, and sits between Evergreen’s main building and other properties it owns.

David Knibbe, president/CEO of Evergreen Commons, said the intention was never to take on a historic landmark property, and said he was not aware of the property’s status when the agreement was made.

It is still Evergreen’s intention to make the greenhouse a multipurpose space which would require altering its structure. He compared it to look something like Downtown Market in Grand Rapids, though would use it an array of activities. This isn’t allowed if the property is a historical landmark.

“The de-listing will allow us to do something pretty unique and amazing, but to fit a different kind of purpose,” Knibbe said.

He added that Evergreen “didn’t pick up” that it was a landmark property as the agreement was made “fairly quickly” as the city wanted to get started on snowmelt.

“With a (memorandum of understanding), you don’t go into that level of detail because you’ll get to it at the contract level,” Knibbe said.

Evergreen requested in a letter to the city in November that the city go through the de-listing process in order to complete the sale. In the “spirit of partnership,” the city looked into it.

Not likely to de-list

It’s anticipated that a resolution to establish a study committee regarding the de-listing could be brought before Holland City Council at its Wednesday, Dec. 6, meeting.

This would be the first step in the process that could take until next summer if it’s begun.

During city council’s Nov. 29 study session, Smith said the process assesses whether the property was not appropriate to be listed as a historical landmark, if the procedure under which it was listed was not correct or if it was not historic to begin with.

The greenhouse was listed in 1999 under Mayor Al McGeehan, who serves on the board of Evergreen Commons today.

Smith said it’s unlikely that a committee would find the listing of the greenhouse meets that criteria. In the end, city council could still vote to overrule that and de-list, but it would open the city up to legal action from any individual or group.

“It’s the only municipal greenhouse in the state that’s been used consistently for 100 years and used for the same purpose which it was built,” Smith said.

The structure of the greenhouse is what’s considered historic. Though it is difficult to maintain a glass house, Zwiep said the current glass could be replaced with polycarbonate.

However, Evergreen does not want the property if it’s listed as a historical landmark, because it would not be able to complete the vision it has for the space.

Future growth

In the meantime, parks and recreation staff is planning for a new growhouse.

The plans have been in the works for years, said Parks and Recreation Director Andy Kenyon, but have come to a halt while both parties wait for some kind of conclusion on the current greenhouse.

The new growhouse is planned for 429 E. 24th St., near the parks and cemetery warehouse.

“We’ve cleaned out the yard but we haven’t done anything with it since,” Kenyon said. “It’s almost to the point where we can bid it out.”

With the future of the current greenhouse unknown, so is that of the potential 10,000 square-foot growhouse.

There is $471,000 in the city’s budget for it, said Interim City Manager Greg Robinson during the Nov. 29 study session. It could be ready to go out to bid in April or May, he said.

But if a committee is put together to de-list the property and in the end the property is not de-listed, the city could end up with two greenhouses.

Robinson said the city would monitor the work of the committee as it works.

“If Evergreen Commons decides not to accept, we can decide whether to renovate (the current greenhouse) and not construct the new one, or to do two,” Robinson said, adding that he has asked staff to put together preliminary estimates on renovating the current greenhouse.

Still, parks staff wants more space to be able to grow more plants at one time.

“The tulip puts us behind the eight ball of other communities because it’s blooming into May,” Kenyon said.

Zwiep said the staff wants a bigger impact and to catch up with those other communities.

— Follow this reporter on Twitter @SentinelSydney.

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